The present invention relates in general to equipment for controlling the light cast by photographic and non-photographic light fixtures, and in particular to a new and useful system of panels, clamps and accessories which can easily be attached to existing light fixtures or other supports for shading, shaping, modifying and otherwise controlling the light being cast by the fixtures.
The lighting of television, motion picture and still photography scenes is a complicated art and science. This is true whether the lighting is being done on location or in the studio.
Professional lighting can be divided into two areas. The first area consists of selecting and placing the fixtures. The second area involves the practice of controlling and refining the light to make the subject and set more dramatic, more attractive or more mysterious. This is traditionally done with materials that diffuse, shadow and color the "raw" light. The second area is the slow and difficult one, in part, because the tools for refining the light are not always practical or controllable.
Because of the high costs of production, every second spent finessing the light is expensive. Not infrequently, compromises in quality have to be made.
The accurate and convenient control of light is also often required for non-photographic lighting environments. It may be desirable for example, to cast lighting in a restaurant onto a table, wall or plant, while shading the light from guests sitting at the table. Similar requirements may exist in a showroom, gallery, or museum where the light is to be projected onto a product, painting or sculpture while avoiding the lighting of distracting background surfaces. In the environment of an office or home, it may be advantageous to cast light onto a keypad, work materials or work surface, while shading the light from a computer screen or an operator's eyes. In a bedroom environment, carefully shaded light can be used to allow one occupant to sleep in shadow while the other reads in full light.
While some photographic light fixtures are equipped with panels referred to as barn doors, these are generally connected permanently or usable only with a specific fixture. Non-photographic lights rarely have sophisticated shading equipment for directing the light.
Both in photographic and non-photographic environments, it is also sometimes desirable to cover the path of light with light controlling sheets or panels that soften the light, add color to the light, shape the light, or otherwise modify the characteristics of the light generated by the fixture. In the photographic field, such sheets include gelatin sheets, frosted and otherwise translucent screens and panels, light defusing sheets and panels, and perforated panels which are referred to in the trade as "kukalorises".
A co-inventor of the present application has for many years contributed to the field of photographic and non-photographic lighting. U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,582 to Lowel for example, discloses a compact photographic light which is manufactured by the assignee company and is in a class of light fixtures known as "broad lights" because of their capacity to cast broad general lighting. While the broad light of this patent carries pivotally mounted doors or wings which can, to some extent, control the light cast above and below the fixture, additional accessories such as a panel carried by a flexible shaft disclosed in the reference, are advantageously utilized to further control the light. This reference also discloses the use of frames for carrying gelatin sheets, and a channel-shaped receptacle mounted on various parts of the light and accessory equipment which is used for accepting a slotted-tongue provided on various other accessories such as a flexible shaft and panel, for connecting these accessories to the light.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,384 and 4,544,120 owned by the assignee of the present application also disclose accessories for carrying sheets, panels and other light modifying equipment on various supports such as stands, doors, walls, furniture or other available support structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,566 to the assignee of the present application discloses a compact light with a versatile panel arrangement which can be used to shape the light cast by the fixture into a variety of beam shapes.
Despite the foregoing advancements, a need remains for equipment which is versatile and easy to use and more precise, for modifying both professional and non-professional lighting to accommodate ever more sophisticated lighting requirements in the shortest possible time.